UNITED STATES NAVY IN DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM

coalition airmen continued to service Phase I precisionbombing from high-tech aerial weap-
and H targets as needed, but also shifted em- onry, while at the same time minimizing civil-
phasis to the field army in Kuwait. Finally, ian casualties.
Phase IV entailed air support of ground opera-
tions. On "D-day," four Navy Hornets from
VFA-81, embarked in SARATOGA, were on a
At around 0300 (Persian Gulf time) 17 bombing mission targeted against an Iraqi air-
January, along with a blitz by more than 100 field when they detected two Iraqi MiG-21s
TLAMs, wave after wave of coalition aircraft seven miles away. They switched their F/A-
- including those flown by Navy and Marine 18 strike-fighters from bombing profile to air-
pilots - began hammering strategic targets to-air, and downed both aircraft using Side-
inside both Iraq and Kuwait, signaling the winder missiles. They then continued their
start of offensive combat operations. Through- mission and scored direct hits on the enemy
out the war, air strikes were conducted from airfield. That encounter produced the Navy's
six aircraft carriers operating in the Red Sea only air-to-air kills, while taking the versatile
and Persian Gulf. USS AMERICA (CV 66) and Hornet through its dual-roled paces. All told,
USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71) de- coalition aircraft scored 35 air-to-air fixed wing
parted Norfolk 28 December 1990, and arrived kills.
just in time for the beginning of DESERT
STORM. They joined USS MIDWAY (CV 41), The Iraqi air force quickly went under-
USS SARATOGA (CV 60), USS JOHN F. ground or flew to safe haven in neighboring
KENNEDY (CV 67) and USS RANGER (CV Iran. Navy pilots from KENNEDY, flying a
61) who were already on station. daytime mission over southwestern Iraq early
in the offensive, said that a group of MiGs
After blinding the enemy's early warn- stayed 40 or 50 miles away, falling back and
ing systems with Navy EA-6B Prowlers and refusing to engage each time the U.S. planes
destroying critical radar sites with high-speed advanced. It was a pattern repeated through-
anti-radiation missiles (HARM) fired from out the war. Each time Navy crews energized
Navy tactical aircraft and Air Force F-4 Wild the powerful, long-range AWG-9 radar in the
Weasels, allied aircraft poured into Iraq and F-I 4, Iraqi pilots turned away. In the course of
began bombing command and control centers, the war, more than 234 Iraqi aircraft were
Scud missile launchers and nuclear, biological taken out of the fight: 90 were destroyed in
and chemical weapons facilities. The Navy/ combat operations, 122 flew to Iran, 16 were
Marine Corps team launched more than 89% captured by ground forces and six were non-
of the HARM missiles that paved the way for combat losses.
the coalition attack.
E-2C Hawkeyes operated around-the-
During those early hours of the war, clock in concert with coalition AWACs to keep
Navy and Marine pilots contributed to the track of Iraq's air force and provide air traffic
destruction of Iraq's air and naval forces, anti- control. Navy and Marine aircraft flew con-
air defenses, ballistic missile launchers, com- tinuous combat air patrols to protect sealift
munications networks, electrical power and ships and airfields, provide reconnaissance
more. They joined their joint and allied part- and on-call anti-surface strike capability.
ners in inflicting heavy military losses with

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